Capital Facts for Santiago, Chile

Santiago flagThe nation’s cultural, political and financial center, Santiago is the capital city of Chile.

Santiago is the site of two world records involving fruits. In 1984 the company Bozzolo Y Perut Ltda grew a bunch of grapes weighing almost 21 pounds (9.4 kilograms). Six years later in 2000 Santiago resident Luis H. Carrasco E. grafted a prune tree with four other fruits (apricot, cherry, nectarine and peach) setting a world record for the highest number of different fruits produced from the same tree.

Chile shipped US$59.9 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2016. Chile’s highest-value exports are copper, chemical wood pulp, fish, wine, fresh or dried grapes, sawn or chipped wood and gold according to the International Trade Centre.

Nicknamed the City of the Island Hills, Santiago has a population of 6.2 million residents living within 248 square miles (641 square kilometers).

Santiago Metropolitan Region is an administrative division that encompasses not only Chile’s capital city, but also most of the country’s commercial and administrative hubs as well as Arturo Merino Benítez international airport. The metropolitan region has 7.2 million people over an area of 784 square miles (2,030 square kilometers).

At the country level, Chile’s land area covers 287,187 square miles (743,812 square kilometers). The national population count was 17.7 million inhabitants as of July 2016.

Population density is much greater within Chile’s landlocked and comparatively high-altitude capital city with an average 24,900 santiaguinos and santiaguinas per square mile (9,600 per square kilometer).

This density dilutes to an average 9,200 people per square mile (3,500 per square kilometer) for the Santiago Metropolitan Region.

For Chile overall, population density drops to an average 61 inhabitants per square mile (24 per square kilometer).

Chile gained its independence from Spain on September 18, 1810. Chileans celebrate Independence Day as a public holiday each September 18.